Thrilled, because this is some of the best writing I feel I’ve ever done. C’mon. You guys know how hard I am on my self. So saying something like this isn’t just the normal hoo-hah. I really do love this book.

Chris and Melissa’s contributions are simply stellar. I’ve no problem at all praising them to the skies. When we first started working together, I had no idea how exciting the collaboration would be. And the release of the trade has gotten me to start finishing off some new Dr. Blink stories I’ve written, which is a blast. So, yay! The next story arc may start later this year, still.

That said, I’m petrified of this book.

It’s full-color, which was enormously expensive to print. Yet it’s priced less than the usual trade paperback we do ($14.99, as opposed to $15.99). Which seems insane because of how much this cost to print. But I’ve always been disappointed by our inability to get the trades into honest-to-goodness book stores and chains in any number.

“The book stores wanna see color,” said the people who are repping me there. “and they wanna see the prices come down.”

So there you go. The book’s out, in full color, which is grand (issue #0 is presented here in color for the first time), there’s scads of extra material, and it looks fab.

And yet, I sit here, having jumped through hoops I was advised to jump through. Waitin’ for those magical book chain orders to come in.